[Illustration: T]hese devices, although properly
coming under the head of “traps,” differ
from them in the sense in which they are generally
understood. A snare naturally implies an
entanglement; and for this reason the term
is applied to those contrivances which secure their
victims by the aid of strings or nooses. Inventions
of this kind are among the most useful and successful
to the professional Trapper, and their varieties are
numerous. The “Twitch-up” will be
recognized as a familiar example by many of our country
readers, who may have seen it during their rambles,
cautiously set in the low underbrush, awaiting its
prey, or perhaps holding aloft its misguided victim.

Snares are among the most interesting and ingenious
of the trap kind, besides being the most sure and
efficacious. They possess one advantage over
all other traps; they can be made in the woods, and
out of the commonest material.

Let the young trapper supply himself with a small,
sharp hatchet, and a stout, keen edged jack-knife,—­these
being the only tools required. He should also
provide himself with a coil of fine brass “sucker
wire,” or a quantity of horse-hair nooses (which
will be described further on), a small ball of tough
twine and a pocket full of bait, such as apples, corn,
oats and the like, of course depending upon the game
he intends to trap. With these, his requirements
are complete, and he has the material for a score
of capital snares, which will do him much excellent
service if properly constructed. Perhaps the
most common of the noose traps is the ordinary

QUAIL SNARE,

which forms the subject of our first illustration.
This consists of a series of nooses fastened to a
strong twine or wire. They [Page 40] may be
of any number, and should either consist of fine wire,
horse-hair, or fine fish-line. If of wire, common
brass “sucker wire,” to be found in nearly
all hardware establishments and country stores, is
the best. Each noose should be about four inches
in diameter. To make it, a small loop should
be twisted on one end of the wire, and the other passed
through it, thus making a slipping loop, which will
be found to work very easily. Fifteen or twenty
of these nooses should be made, after which they should
be fastened either to a stout string or wire, at distances
of about four inches from each other, as seen in our
illustration. Each end of the long string supporting
the nooses should then be fastened to a wooden peg.
After selecting the ground, the pegs should be driven
into the earth, drawing the string tightly, as seen
in our illustration. The ground around the nooses
should then be sprinkled with corn, oats, and the
like, and the trap is set. As a general thing,
it is advisable to set it in a neighborhood where